Sharad Kaushik

Sharad Kaushik.....

If He has to be described in one word, ‘Gentleman’ would be the word. The man with no complains and no regret is Delhi’s precious gift to Indian Volleyball. Tall, athletic and smart Kaushik was one of the most promising cricketer at the National Stadium. Legendary volleyball coach Gurbax Singh who spotted this young talent, succeeded in convincing him to leave the cricket pitch and join the volleyball court. The year was 1982. Soon, agile and energetic Sharad found more excitement in the dusty volleyball ground than the green cricket field.

Same year, Sharad performed the duty of a ball boy at the Delhi Asian Games. Watching the top volleyball players from Asia and India in action, Sharad started dreaming of playing for the national team one day. He used to wait for an opportunity to get autographs of celebrated  players like Dalel Singh, without knowing that 7 years later he would be part of the same Indian team with Dalel Singh as his setter.

Sharad’s father Shri K S Sharma, then an employee of civil aviation department and mother Smt Pupalata, never stopped him from playing volleyball. With their blessings, within one year of entering the volleyball court he was selected to represent Delhi team in the Senior National Volleyball Championship. He was one of the fastest learner of the game and in four years he earned a place in the Indian Junior team. Since then it has been no looking back for Sharad Kaushik, an Alumina of   Kendriya Vidyala, INA.

His extraordinary performance in the volleyball ground  lend him a job at Delhi Food Company soon after completing his 12^th Std. Sharad severed the company, for more than a year. In those days the basic salary of Rs 920/month  was too tempting for an 18 years old to resign. But Shard had other plans in mind. He wished to continue his studies and left the job to pursue B Com from Kirorimal College, the same college from where superstar Amitabh Bachchan graduated years earlier.

After successfully completing his B Com, Sharad accepted the job offer from Delhi Police. He joined  as Sub-Inspector in 1989. Later he resigned from Delhi Police in 1993 and finally joined Customs and Central Excise department as Inspector. By then he had already made a mark for himself in the Indian Volleyball arena. He became a regular player of the national team. Sharad helped India in winning many International medals including Gold medal in SAF Games and Shivanthi Gold Cup. Such was his need in the team that, once 4 days before the Senior Asian Championship in Thailand, Sharad twisted his ankle. His fitness became a big issue and there were serious doubt of his inclusion  in the team. But the Cuban Coach, then In charge of Indian team, took a strong stand in favour of Shard Kaushik. In four days Shard recovered completely and played in the tournament.

During his decade old association with the Indian Volleyball team Sharad had participated in numerous international tournaments in Germany, Russia, Japan, Australia and many other Asian countries.

While most of the time Kaushik was away playing for the national team in International tournament, back home his friends from Panther Club, would eagerly wait for him to participate in the local tournaments. Playing in the local tournaments in India is all together a different experience. The Panther club was one of the most famous club of North India and had the reputation of upsetting best department teams of the country .Whenever Sharad used to play in a local tournament, thousands of local spectators would gather around the ground, up on the roof tops, on tractors and tress to cheer for their favourite team. Sharad was the most ferocious Panther of the Panther club. People wold go crazy once Sharad hold the ball for the warm-up shots. But, Sharad always attributes all the craze created around him to his team mates, who were his constant source of support.

The aggression hidden behind this otherwise calm Panther still reflects in his attitude. Now, the temperament is more to do with mental toughness than physical vigor. Looking at the way Kaushik deals with the huge piles of file at his office, none would ever imagine that this Superintendent of Central Excise Department was once a star volleyball player.

When a player retires from active sports, he or she either get associate with the sport as coach, organizer and critics or join the regular office job. Sharad preferred the later. The transition from sports field to the office chair is the toughest part in a sportsmen life. After years of glories achievement and hero worshiping when sportsmen are forced to work on files from 9pm to 5pm, majority of the players goes through a phase of melancholy. But, Shard showed extraordinary perseverance. He never became part of the vast majority, instead he used his sporting determination to empower himself with new skills.

Once he had his eye on something, he will get it done come what may. After fulfilling all his sporting goals he started concentrating on his academics. While getting familiarise with  the office work he simultaneously completed his LLB. His qualification and excellent decision making power earned him respect among his colleague in the department. His top management appreciated his work and promoted him to the post of Superintendent. But, he is not a man to bask on his glory instead he raised his goal and started preparing for LLM.

With office work and family at home, cracking the entrance exam for LLM was not an easy task. It was even more difficult because there were only 60 seats in Delhi University. The admission process was one of the toughest, as thousands of students appear for the entrance exam. Sharad failed in the first attempt. A year later he tried again but missed the seat by 2 rank. But, Shard was not a person to give away.  On his third attempt Sharad's  name finally appeared in the list of 60 students who successfully qualified for admission in LLM. Sharad Kaushik is perhaps  the first international sportsmen  to have successfully earned a seat in LLM from Delhi University. Remember there is no sports quota for LLM admission, it is purely based on merit.

At home his wife Amita Kaushik has been a constant source of support for the last 19 years. She is a PGT teacher in Political Science and has always stand by all his decision. The couple is blessed with two beautiful daughters Pranika and Kashvi.

When asked of his moment of despair or depression. He said he had never gone through such anguishing time. After talking to him for more than an hour at his cosy office chamber in Delhi, Rajendra Nagar, we realized this man is a bundle of positive energy. Never, throughout our conversation had he spoken anything negative or bad about anybody. Probably his positive outlook may be the reason for all his achievement. Had we all people being like him, world would have been a better place to live, is what we felt after meeting Sharad Kaushik.

Abhijit Bhattacharya